School Board Meeting - May 19, 2025

001I call to order the York County Regular School Board meeting for May 19th, 2025. Good evening, everyone. As we gather tonight, it's hard to believe that we're already nearing the finish line of another school year. The final stretch is always busy and exciting time, and we want to take a moment to recognize the incredible work our teachers, staff, and students have done to get us here. We wish each of you the very best as you navigate these last few weeks. May they be filled with focus, celebration, and a strong finish. I now like to share the YCSD mission statement. The mission of the York County School Division is to ensure every student is valued, supported, and challenged through learning experiences which prepare them for a successful future. Would you now join me in a brief

002moment of silence? Thank you. Now, I'll share some information about our pledge leader, Yosha Fukahara, a fifth grader at Mount Vernon Elementary. Yosha Fukahara is the true Mustang through and through. She strives every day to follow our Mustang motto, to be safe, kind, responsible, and ready to learn. Yoshino is a member of the Mount Vernon Odyssey of the Mind team, which won the state competition and qualified for worlds. She collaborated with the other members to create something unique and fun for competition, lending to them her incredible creativity, patience, kindness, and intelligence. She is thoughtful in listening to the ideas of others and always puts others first. Yoshino is a great asset as a team me team focused member. When Yoshino first came to Mount Vernon Elementary School in second grade, she only spoke Japanese. However,

003she never let that stop her. She immersed herself in the language and the school community. Now, Yoshino serves as the Mustang mentor for her class, helping new students learn the rules and culture of our school, making sure they feel welcome and important. Please stand as Yosha leads us in our pledge. I pledge of allegiance to the flag of United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, we will now recognize our seniors of the month for each school. When your name is announced, please stand along with your family members while we hear about your accomplishments. All right, we're going to start tonight with Brutin High School and that's in Mr. uh district. There you go. Okay, go ahead and

004stand up all y'all. This is Siway Marabini and Brutin High School is proud to nominate uh Siuway for recognition as student of the month as president of the Spanish honor society and captain of the varsity cross country team. Siway has not only excelled academically and athletically, but has also become an integral part of our community, always striving to give back and inspire others along the way. As a 2022 singles regional champion in varsity tennis and a two-time state doubles runnerup, Siway exemplifies the competitive spirit and dedication inherent in all great athletes. On the cross country team as a top runner, Siwa placed first in the New Kent Bay Rivers District and impressively 20th out of 307 at the Nights Crossing Invitational. These accomplishments are not merely trophies, but reflections of S Piway's relentless work ethic

005and resilience. Beyond the tra the track in the court, he has consistently demonstrated a commitment to academic excellence and leadership. As a four-year member of the Governor's Health Science Academy, Ziuway has fostered a deep-seated interest in the medical field, a passion that is further evidenced by his dedicated work as a lifeguard at Great Wage. Congratulations, PUA. [Applause] All right. Next, we'll hear about Grafton High Senior of the Month, and that will be Mr. Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to invite in invite Brandon Mills and his parents, Tiffany uh and uh Fred Mills. Grafton High School is proud to recognize Brandon Mills as our senior of the month for May. Brandon exemplifies academic achievement, leadership, and service. With a passion for engineering, he began earning high school credits in math and world language before

006even entering high school. At Grafton High, he pursued an advanced studies diploma, challenging himself with an AP honors and dual enrollment courses as well as a rigorous engineering based drawing and design class where he was recognized for his advanced problem solving skills. Brandon further his technical education throughout the comp competitive mechatronics program at the New Horizons, earning numerous certifications and accolades. Beyond academics, he made a strong impact through athletics, competing at the regional level in wrestling and track and field, and contributing to the varsity football team. A respected leader, Brandon mentored teammates with the insight and empathy, adapting his guidance to each individual. He also gave back through volunteering service with the school and with w and the wider community. Brendan's dedication, integrity, and drive make him an outstanding choice for the honor and a

007promising future college student. Congratulations, [Applause] Brenda. Our TAB senior was unable to make it this evening, and since it's the last recognition meeting of the school year, we'd like to still have his achievements read this evening. So, I'll ask Miss Fairman if she will read those for us. Absolutely. Thank you. TAB High School is pleased to announce Samuel Whiting as our senior of the month for May. A hardworking, determined, and grounded student, Samuel exemplifies what it means to lead with quiet strength and steadfast commitment both inside and outside the classroom. Throughout high school, Samuel has consistently earned academic honors recognition, demonstrating academic grit while taking on a challenging course load that includes multiple advanced and AP courses. He is a dedicated member of Beta Club, Key Club, Science National Honor Society, and Fellowship of Christian

008Athletes, showing a clear commitment to both service and scholarship. Samuel is also a standout member of the TAB high school football program where he has played varsity since sophomore year. As a TAB team leader, he sets the tone through his positive mindset and unshakable work ethic, helping lead his teammates toward shared success. Beyond school and sports, Samuel is employed at Chick-fil-A, where he was recently promoted to trainer. Balancing academics, athletics, and part-time work is no easy task. But Samuel has done so with determination and maturity. He also attends Wat's Edge Church, where he's been a member since 2012, grounding himself in values that carry into all areas of life. Samuel plans to attend James Madison University in the fall where he plans to continue his journey towards becoming an athletic trainer for a professional sports

009team. Having already earned his certified physical therapy aid CPTA credential through New Horizons, he's well on his way to making that dream a reality. Known for being tenacious, reliable, and laid-back in the best way, Samuel is someone who leads by example and lifts others up with his presence. Congratulations, Samuel. Your commitment, drive, and leadership make you a deserving recipient of this month's [Applause] recognition. Okay. I have the honor of telling you about the York High uh senior of the month, if William and his family would stand. York High School is proud to recognize William Hunt as our senior of the month for his outstanding achievements both on and off the field. Will has demonstrated exceptional dedication and talent as a key member of our baseball team and basketball team, contributing to their success with his

010athletic proudness and leadership skills. York High School is the reigning baseball state champions to which Will contributed earning his ACE award for having the best pitching stats and his ability to stay calm in a tense situation in the state semi-finals. His commitment to sports goes beyond competition where he has embraced the role as camp counselor for sports world and athletic camp for youth where he shared his passion for sports and inspired the next generation of athletes. Will's unwavering approach to balancing what life brings him is evident in his athletic honors and his academic honors received. Will is a member of multiple honor societies along with being on track to graduate as a YCSD honors program member with the highest academic achievement. Will exemplifies what it means to be a well-rounded student, and we look forward

011to seeing the great things that he will accomplish in the future. Congratulations, Will. [Applause] And Mr. Schaefer is gonna tell us about uh York River Academyy's senior of the month, Sydney Duran. Go ahead and stand up everyone. Thank you. Sydney Duran, daughter of Joshua and Marina Duran, represents a proud Coast Guard family and is the 2025 York River Academy Senior of the Year. Sydney will graduate on June 10th at the top of her class, earning an advanced diploma after only three years in high school. Sid has maintained a straight A average, showing remarkable uh academic achievements, strong character, and dedication to both service and extracurricular uh pursuits. She has served on the principal advisory and wellness committees and is a student representative on the York County School Division uh district division CTE advisory board. Sydney

012has won awards for her citizenship service and integrity along with taking the time to tutor peers and younger students. She's employed at Busch Gardens and also as a babysitter. There seems to be nothing that Sydney cannot do when she puts her mind to it. She is an artist with many hobbies including crochet, the guitar, and the ukulele. Sid will be playing the guitar and singing at the YA uh graduation. Sydney has tough decisions to make regarding college as she was accepted at Penn State, Baylor, UT Dallas, and UT San Antonio, but is pleased to announce that she will be attending the University of Texas at San Antonio in the fall. We could not be prouder of her and her accomplishments. Congratulations, [Applause] Excuse me, Kim. Just a sec. Miss Mr. Durant, like I just want

013to tell you one thing. I know Sydney from uh CT advisory and I actually met her, but Miss Sheffield like my first tour of the York River Academy. Uh wonderful, exceptional young lady. I just want to say like know how proud I am and I'm sure you are as well. So, thank you. All right. Next, we're going to have our student awards and volunteer awards. And Dr. Shander will make his way down to the front. I'm going to ask Miss Jackie Barber, Mount Vernon Elementary principal, to step forward while information is shared about the student service award recipient for Mount Vernon. The student service award recipient for Mount Vernon Elementary is Jace Martin. Miss Fairman, will you please tell us about Jace as he comes up front? Mount Vernon recognizes Jacece Martin as the recipient

014of our student service award. Jacece consistently demonstrates kindness and empathy. He is an enthusiastic learner who motivates others to achieve their best. He is mindful of the needs of others either by lending items to his classmates or by including them in group projects. He displays maturity by listening to others and ensuring that everyone's voice is heard. Jace volunteers his time in many ways. He volunteers in the YCLL Challenger game, encouraging players to have fun and be a part of a team sport. He volunteers as a Special Olympics bowler and recently joined the Youth Volunteer Corps of Hampton Roads. His commitment to these organizations exemplifies his compassionate nature and enthusiasm to serve. In addition to helping transform Mount Vernon's blacktops with new exercise and game areas, he helped build picnic tables at Tab Middle for their

015outdoor lunch area. As a Mustang, Jacece is a member of the kindness crew, a Mustang mentor, and works with students in our communication room. Jace upholds the Mustang motto of being responsible, safe, and kind. He is reliable, always positive, and willing to help. We are so proud to honor him with this award and so proud that he is a Mustang. [Applause] Congratulations. The volunteer of the month for Mount Vernon Elementary is Miss Vanna Upurch. And Miss Fairman will tell us about Miss Upurch as she comes up. [Applause] Vanna Upchurch exemplifies the spirit of service in every way. As our dedicated PTA president, she leads with grace, humility, and tireless energy, making one of the most demanding roles look effortless. Vanna is also constant presence in the school library and is always the first to ask,

016"How can I help?" Whether she's solving problems, anticipating needs, or offering a listening ear, her kindness and empathy shine through. She quietly stays one step ahead, never seeking recognition, but always making a difference. Vanna's commitment to our school is immeasurable, and her impact is felt by students, staff, and families alike. We are deeply grateful for her leadership, generosity, and unwavering support. It is a true honor to recognize her with this year's volunteer award. [Applause] Congratulations. All right. Now, I will ask Miss Mary Lugo, Tab High School principal, to step forward and remain up front while information is shared about the student service award recipient and the volunteer of the month for TAB High School. The student award service award recipient this month for Tab High, I bet hopefully say this right, is Elri Buchanan. Bushan

017Bushan. Okay, Mr. Mr. Richardson is going to share some information about Elri. Elry is a shining example of student benevolence at Tab High School. She believes in the power of being dedicated to her community in various ways such as tutoring, baking, and volunteering in me with many organizations. When asked about what activities and accomplishments she is most proud of, she mention mentions she is most proud of her 200 plus hours of volunteer service to our community. She is especially pr proud of her work with sleep and heavenly peace, which is a nonprofit that helps provide beds for children in the Hampton Roads community. Elry is a member of the youth volunteer corps of Hampton Roads WHRO advisory board and she also volunteers at Northside Christian Church where she is a greeter and a child care

018provider within TAB High School. She's a member of the Tiger Pride Club youth volunteer corps and the principal's advisory board. Her involvement in these various groups have allowed her to directly impact Tab High School. It has been through her work in our school and other opportunities to assist children that made Elri realize she wanted to go into medicine and work to treat children with neurological diseases. We wish her the best as she graduates next month and will begin pursuing her dream of becoming a doctor. Congratulations, Elry. [Applause] The volunteer of the month for Tab High School is Miss Mary Annette. Miss Annette, would you please join Dr. Shander and Miss Lugo up front while Mr. Richardson shares some information about [Applause] you? Tab High School is proud to recognize Miss Mary Annette as our volunteer

019of the month. Mary has served on a York County on the York County School PTA for over 15 years, beginning when her children were students at TAB Elementary School where she served as the newsletter chairperson. With her youngest child graduating from TAB High School next month, she is saying goodbye to us and her time serving on our PTSA. During her time at TAB, Mary has served as our PTSA secretary, but quite honestly, she has been a part of anything the PTSA does, from monthly meetings and hospitality gatherings to working after prom and many other events. As our secretary, she has done a stellar job keeping our families informed of the PTSA news and keeping the board informed with her detailed minutes. She can also be found supporting her daughter with activities such as serving as

020team mom, running concessions for girls basketball and volleyball at Tab Middle School and Tab High School, and helping feed hungry Tab High School musical kids each spring. Mary is being celebrated for more than just her attention to detail with regard to her volunteer work. She's a pleasure to work with and has a heart for the students, the staff, and the families of the TAB community. Her unwavering support to our school has been appreciated and she will be missed as she transitions off the PTSA board. Thank you, Mary, for your many years of service to the York County School Division. [Applause] All right. At this time, we'll now have a presentation by the York Foundation for Public Education, and Mr. Schaer will tell us about that. Sure. I'd like to invite Miss Lori Armstrong, York Foundation

021for Public Education member to step forward and assist Dr. uh yeah, Shandor. Yeah, thanks for No, I had to look because it doesn't say you as he presents gifts to each of our award recipients. Please come up front when you hear your name called. Congratulations to Yoshino Fukahara, a fifth grader from Mount Vernon Elementary School for reciting the pledge of allegiance with tonight's school award. We'd also like to recognize tonight's student service award recipients, Jacece Martin from Mount Vernon Elementary [Applause] School and Elri Bon from uh Tab High School. [Applause] We also congratulate our seniors of the month for this month. Siway Mat Matabini, there we go. From Brutton High School, we have Brendan Mills from Grafton High School. [Applause] Samuel Whiting from TAB High [Applause] School, William Hunt from York High [Applause] School, and

022Sydney Duran from York River Academy. [Applause] Special gifts from Cookie Text and Edible Tweet are being presented on behalf of the York Foundation for Public Education in partnership with their donor Gene Fioa of Cookie Text and Edible Tweet. A Sweet Frog gift card is also being donated by Derek Mahan from uh Sweet Frog. Join me in congratulating all of our award recipients. [Applause] All right. We will next have one of my favorite parts, the accent on academics. And Dr. Shandor would tell us a little bit about that. Yes. Thank you. And good evening, Miss Goodwin. Board members, tonight we have the pleasure of having uh former YCSD graduates here. They're going to share how their educational experiences in YCSD help them prepare for success. I'll turn it over to Dr. Karen Kaggel, who is a

023very important person in the school division. Dr. Kaggel, you didn't save me for last tonight, Dr. Shandor. I appreciate that. Um, good evening, Madame Chair, school board members, and Dr. Shandor. It is my pleasure to introduce tonight's accent on academics which will be different from our usual presentations. As you know, Accent on academics is a time when our students and staff share engaging educational experiences that support student learning in our schools. Just went to the end of it. Just a moment. These presentations showcase the many ways we prepare our students to be future ready graduates with knowledge and skills that will support the pathways they choose after they leave us. After high school, our students will pursue careers which may include enrollment in a community college or university, seeking employment, or enlisting in the military.

024The goal for students who engage in one or more of these opportunities is to have a strong foundation to support them in their endeavors. The state calls this the 3E readiness framework and you'll be hearing more about this framework in the future with the new state accountability system. However, our goal tonight is to show you how York County School Division has been and continues to be in the business of preparing our students for their futures. Our presenters tonight, as Dr. Shandoor mentioned, are former graduates who are here to share how their experiences have contributed to their post high school plans. I'd like to thank them for taking time to prepare for tonight and to travel here to remind all of us of the importance of the work that we do and the decisions that we

025make every day. So, our students have many opportunities to earn transferable postsecary credits through rigorous college creditbearing coursework. So, I'm going to start tonight with enrollment. That is one of the uh parts of the 3E e framework. On this slide, you can see an overview of what we provide our students. We partner with the Virginia Peninsula Community College to provide an early college program and as well as dual enrollment courses. You may remember back in November, we actually had an accent on academics about dual enrollment. We had several of our students present. While our high school students can also enroll in advanced placement or AP courses, these classes also give our students the chance to tackle college level work while they're still in high school and earn college credit. We have AP courses in six

026different disciplines, including our core subject classes, as well as art and world language. Next year we've added AP research course which will give students the opportunity to earn an AP capstone diploma. Our international balorate program housed at York High School is recognized and respected by many universities as a qualification into higher education. Students interested in this program can work with their school counselors as early as seventh grade to map out the precoursework necessary to be ready for this. So tonight we have former graduate um from York High School Madison Cwell here and she's going to share her experiences with the international balorate program. Good evening everyone. My name is Madison Caldwell and I'm a 2024 graduate of the international balora program at York High School. I just finished my first year at UVA and I

027believe that IB helped me with many of my prerequisite classes. It allowed me to practice study strategies in a flexible setting with teachers who were very willing to answer questions and provide assistance. It also helped me practice managing my time and staying up to date with deadlines on projects and homeworks. Similar to the extended essay and internal assessments, which are projects we worked on for two years, I also saw its effects when reading and reporting on research, which is a skill we practice in the classroom during exam preparation. At York, I was able to begin the path for a future career as a sports medicine physician associate by working as an athletic training student aid to Shawn Weisman. Then at UVA, I am furthering my passion for sports medicine by majoring in kinesiology, working with

028the kinesiology club, and becoming an executive member of the future physician associates club. My time at York not only prepared me for the rigor of college courses, and provided me experience for my career, but also gave me great memories like our annual IB Friendsgiving, lunch between grades, being able to spend every class with my closest friends, and build lasting connections with my teachers over the two years in the program. A piece of advice I would give students on the fence about IB is to just give it a try. It was something I initially did not want to go through because I was separated from my friends in other classes. But IB allowed me to make new friends I would have not previously met and gain a wider wider perspective. It allowed me to connect with

029my teachers on a deeper level who my friends in other classes did not experience. It felt like my teachers truly knew who I was and it reflected in my recommendation letters. Thank you. So, now I'm going to talk a little bit about the employment area of the framework. So, I can't help but mention our program of studies tonight. For those of you who know me from the program of studies presentations, our program of studies includes 57 middle and high school career and technical education courses offered in our schools with an additional 29 offered through the New Horizon's Regional Education Center. Students have the opportunity to explore a variety of career pathways. And our high school students can also earn one or more industry certifications or credentials to verify their competence and qualifications for potential employers.

030So, we appreciate Grafton High School graduate Alexander Goodman for being here tonight to share how York County School Division and the New Horizon's Regional Career and Technical Education Center prepared him for his career endeavors. Alex. Good evening, everybody. My name is Alex Goodman and I'm proud to share my experience with New Horizons and how it helped me prepare prepare for a career in the trades. During my time at New Horizons, I took vocational classes in both electrical and plumbing. These classes gave me the hands-on experience I needed I needed to build real world skills. Skills that employers actually look for. Learning how to wire circuits or installing plumbing system wasn't just interesting. It was empowering. I walked away from each class with more confidence and a clear idea of the career I wanted to pursu

031pursue. One of the most impactful parts of my journey was the Good Life Solutions program. Through it, I received support in building my resume, practicing for interviews, connecting with local employers. It was through this program that I secured a job right after high school. A major step forward that many students don't get so quickly. Some of my favorite memories at New Horizons include the hands-on learning experiences and the chance to meet new people who shared my interest. It felt great to be in an environment where learning was active and collaborative, not just sitting at a desk. If I could give any advice to a student thinking about attending New Horizons or going into the trades, it's this. Just go for it. It's fun. It's a supportive place where you learn something valuable that can jumpst

032start your career while you're still in high school. Best of all, it sets you on a path that doesn't leave you with a mountain of debt. Thank you. [Applause] So now I'm going to talk about the enlistment area of the framework. So York County School Division offers high rigor military preparation through our naval junior reserve officer training corps classes. These classes are held at TAB and York high schools. However, students from Brute and Grafton in York River, they travel to those schools to attend. Our JOTC students take the armed services aptitude battery which measures developed abilities. It also helps predict future academic and occupational success in the military and in future career pathways. The rigorous curriculum prepares students for a future military career that may occur directly after high school or after attending a college

033or university. Tonight, we're fortunate to have Nathaniel Virgil Finolus um to share with us his experiences as a former TAB High School JOTC student. Hello, I am Nathaniel Virgil Fenlus. I graduated from TAB High School in the class of 2022 and I'm now a rising senior in the core of cadets of Virginia Tech, studying aerospace engineering and pursuing a commission in the United States Navy. TAB's NJ ROC program gave me leadership experience, confidence, and lifelong friendships. When I first came to high school, I had no friend group until my first day in JOTC class. From there, I was surrounded with like-minded people who became one large family to me. I learned as much from my upper classmen who went to the militarymies, VMI, Virginia Tech, and the workforce as I did from my instructors. When

034I was a senior, I had the honor of being the commanding officer. I was put in charge of a unit of 130 people managing training events and competitions that happened almost daily as well as mentoring a new generation of subordinate leaders. This level of leadership in high school is unique to JOTC. With the help of the instructors who combined for over 40 years of military experience, I was able to grow in confidence and competence. I also learned what it means to be a servant leader who leads others in serving the community in York County. This was exactly what I needed to prepare me for busy life as a cadet in the core and as a naval officer. I practiced finding deficiencies and making corrections to how operations were conducted, peer leadership, as well as setting

035goals for the organization and guiding the team to reach those goals. The JOTC program includes a lot of competitions, drill, athletics, academics, orientering, marksmanship, cyber, and even drone piloting. Some of the greatest lessons from my high school days were in the losses and victories of those competitions. working with a team to find ways that we could improve. Training tirelessly until we were perfect. Then executing on competition day taught me a winning attitude. Never give up. Never quit. Change, adapt, and overcome. And when you find the path to success, take the rest of the team with you. This mindset has been the very essence of my time in the core of cadetses as an aerospace engineer and a member of my community at Virginia [Applause] Tech. Again, I want to thank these three young people for

036showing up tonight and really reminding us of the work that we do and how it carries forward. They are great representations of York County School Division. If we can give them another [Applause] hand, and I have to say it's a little easier working with these guys than kindergarteners, but um it it was a it was a great experience. Now, do you have any questions or comments for them? I I have one for Alexander. What uh what did what job did you get out of high school and are you still doing it? So, right now I am employed with the local 1340 IBW union and uh I got that through New Horizons and I'm still employed there today. All right. [Applause] Couple of things actually. Madison, right? Uh so I was at your graduation for IB

037class. That was one of my first uh commissions as a school board member to be president. So like I remember actually you and a couple a few of your friends just kind of how much you were bringing to that program and how much you got out of it. Yes. It was such a great experience. It provided me with so much that I wouldn't have been able to get in AP or dual enrollment classes. And so I recommend it to every underassman that I encounter. I spoke to some of your friends that actually graduated from the program and came back for your graduation and they mentioned how much it helped them in a college environment that uh like study and writing like a lot of writing. How did you find your experience with IB course helping

038you in a college in a very similar way? I think my classes were geared towards college courses and so the study strategies we learned like in my IB biology class where we made a spreadsheet of all the information. I used that in my biology courses in college and so very transferable. Very good. Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you, Alexander. And I'll get to you Nathaniel. It was good. Uh so I just want to say congratulations like we uh just got from the graduation for good life last week I believe. Uh and that that was always experienced. I've been LA this year and last year seeing young men and women actually graduating from the CT from New Horizon and uh being so proud to have job offer that at the end of the course and end at

039the end of the school. You like as Mr. Schaefer asked you, you continue and that was always my question is like how many of our students stay behind but like uh what you finding working for the for the electric company the training you got through the new horizon how much of it was actually used in every day that you do? So we did like little circuit boards hands-on I use that every day installing receptacles, light switches, light fixtures. Um, and then we did we hammered in a lot of book work, which with my apprenticeship, we do a lot of book work and they train us every single Tuesday and Thursday. So, that does come in very handy because we touched the code book, we learned how to go through the code book, and in the

040apprenticeship, everything's in the code book. So, it just helped me understand how to use the code book, where to find the information, and gave me the head start in my apprenticeship. All right, that's good. Thank you very much. Thank you, Nathaniel. Sorry. uh my son I was just attending the NGRTC graduation also last week and my son is in part of my nephew as well. So seeing you as a college uh student right now speaking so nicely uh and affirmatively it just gives me very much of a hope uh and joy knowing that our program is delivering young men like you to our country. So thank you for your service and for what you do and what you're trying to do. Yes. Thank you very much. Yes. And I would add to that U, Nathaniel,

041I I just want to say you made a great choice choosing Virginia Tech as Yes. Let's go Hokes. Go Hokes. And to the uh all of you, thank you for coming back and taking your time. Um, we know this is a wonderful program, but to hear it from graduates who went through it and now are applying the work in their in their field or or um at school, it just really resonates and tells us that this is is good stuff. And I especially want to thank Dr. Kaggel for, you know, this program. I mean, this is producing some great results and um I I'm just thrilled that we have this. So, thank you, Nathaniel. While while you're still up there, had a question. Not everybody who goes through ROC at the college level has the

042advantage of doing the junior ROC in high school. How have you seen a difference in that when you're in the core at the college level? Um what's the advantage of doing the junior ROC in high school before getting into the the full ROC at the college level? Um, so I would say that the advantage is that you come in kind of knowing the military landscape. So nothing's really a surprise to you. Um, a lot of guys, you know, when they come in their freshman year, uh, there's kind of this culture shock, you know, and so maybe they're not as gung-ho with everything um, that's going on because there's they're just trying to get a hang of things. Uh but when you do JRTC and you come into a college program or you enlist in the

043military, you know, from day one, you're already on the ball, you know what's going on. Uh and you know how to uh how to train, how to lead, and stuff like that. So, it's a lot more of a smoother path in Wonderful. Thank you so much for your service and thank all three of you and Dr. Cable for uh presenting this to us tonight. It was great. Thank you. Okay, the board will take a short break uh to meet with our award recipients and their families. We will now reconvene the meeting. Sorry, I didn't have my mic on. Uh we do not have any unfinished business this evening. Uh so what we're going to do is go into um board members committee updates. And so I will go ahead and start with Mr. Richardson. And

044I have nothing to report this evening. Okay. Well, that was easy. We'll move on Mr. Schaefer. I'll be kind of brief too because uh York Foundation for Public Education, we had a meeting uh they have a meeting Thursday uh which I won't be able to be at because I'll be at the retirement star retirement uh reception, but uh we are definitely looking for members for YFP. You saw Lori who who is fairly new and and it's a great great thing to be involved with. We have the um the golf tournament coming up. We just had the uh what was it? Barbecue and bruise not too long ago and uh we're just looking for more trustees to help more members to help uh with giving out the awards with uh with just doing everything that the

045YFP does. And you don't have to be a retired teacher or anything else. It's open to anybody. All you have to do is contact us. Contact me. I'll put you in touch with Glennice and she'll she'll convince you for sure. Okay. Okay. Mr. Povich. Yes, I do have a lengthy report. All right. So, on a new horizon uh we done a recognition of the teacher of the year uh reception uh la actually last week uh just seeing those teachers that they put their heart and soul in those students It it just amazes me to see dedication and um we in York County schools we're known that we have great teachers pouring their souls in uh in our students education and their well-being. Seeing that expanding into the new horizon, it just makes me very happy

046and proud to be part of that organization. Um Dr. Kale, she is doing amazing job. uh she had many challenges but she picked up very fast and she done a really really good job leading that organization till this day. Uh we do have a next week uh board of trustees meeting uh on Tuesday. Uh we're gonna on May 29th we're gonna recognize the uh seniors at the Butler Farm and also as I mentioned earlier that I was uh at the graduation for the good life. Uh and again seeing those students walking the stage being so proud that they got the job offer and that they took it. Uh it's it's really amazing to see that how much of the the joy they have and carry. Uh moving on to the CT advisory and uh to

047the CT um uh updates. We had uh as I mentioned NJRTC graduations la graduation last week. Uh also me and Mr. Schaefer we uh attended pitch night. Uh it was really really good and fun night to see our students uh pitching their product, their uh businesses to the panel of judges. I heard about it last year. I had to miss it because of my trip out of the state. But seeing how much they get actually involved in research and coming up with idea and uh developing the the business plan proposal uh all of the numbers like out of the blue it just uh was amazing just to see that uh we had a very great feedback from the judges or those students and I want to say congratulations to the York High School team for

048winning it. They really did deserve it. Uh they had amazing presentation, amazing idea, amazing idea. Um their websites that the website the brand that they developed it was just u something else really outspoken. Um we also met with the advisory committee for the program of studies. Uh Sydney, our senior of the month, was uh present over there and she and a couple other students are just absolutely amazing uh resource what they bring to the table with their ideas uh and their experience because that's what we encouraging from our students. Speak up, tell us your experience, what would you like to see different and change? And they brought the wealth a wealth of information to the table. Um I want to also extend congratulations to the York High uh and uh Navy NJRTC for the getting

049uh distinguished unit with honors. They did not have it for last 26 years. So they got it. Uh great great accomplishment and I think on behalf of the board and entire county school district we said congratulations for such a great job doing it. Uh, TAB High School did receive distinguished unit award as well. Uh, and that's for the Navy uh, annual inspections. Uh, we going to have national CT competitions this summer that uh, some of our teams are going to go to for the FBLA which is future business leaders of America. Uh, we have uh, Tab High, Brutin High and Grafton High qualify for those nationals. Uh and then we have also Graten High DECA qualify for nationals. That's coming up this summer. With that, I'm concluding my report. So, thank you. If I'm not

050mistaken, I think York High won pitch last year, too. I'm pretty sure they Yeah. Yeah. They won it last year. Just saying. I was We weren't keeping track of that, you know. Not at all. Um well, I um am on two committees. I'm on the Gifted Education Advisory Committee, otherwise known as Gak. And we actually had two meetings in April because uh we had some inclement weather in February, so it was scheduled to March. And then we had inclement weather in March. So we ended up having both meetings in April. So um the first meeting we outlined a process for the selection of the next round of student representatives for our uh Gak uh uh committee. the school board was able to select student representatives from each of the four different high schools that would

051sit on the committee uh for the 25 26 school year. We had actually 19 applications which is phenomenal. The year before that I think we had like one maybe two from each school. So we had 19. So we definitely had to uh really uh make some hard decisions. Um, it was tough picking the representatives, but we did pick a representative from each school. And I want to thank all the board members for your help because I could not have done that all by myself. That was a lot of people to talk to. Um, our final meeting for GIA concluded with a presentation by our division's lead psychologist on mental health needs of gifted learners and that was really well attended and the committee um is now putting together the end ofear uh report for the

052board. The other committee is the uh special education advisory committee known as SEAK. So I attended the final SEAK meeting for this year on May 6 and I was informed that through the implementation of the new special education academy that the York uh county school division was able to make a tremendous impact on retention of our special education teachers. Now this is huge because as you know teacher retention can be challenging but special education teacher retention is very challenging and because this program was implemented um we have had uh hardly any uh turnover in special education teachers going into this year. Um, the academy brought new sped teachers in for five additional days of training, new teacher training in addition to the existing new teacher training that all teachers are required to attend. And so,

053as a result, we were able to retain the majority of those teachers. So, I think that that was a fantastic uh uh uh program to implement um and that we are going to continue to do that. And then um not really committee, but this is um VB VSBA, which is the Virginia School Board Association. Um I was accepted to present on board norms and protocols at the July 25th VSBA conference on education. Am I doing that by myself or are you okay? Just check. You're doing it with me. Okay. So, Mr. Richardson and I will be presenting on that. So, um th those are my updates and um now we will go ahead and we'll open it up to comments by citizens. So, this evening we have two opportunity to excuse me two opportunities to

054speak. One for general comments and the other for a public hearing on proposed schoolboard salaries for FY226. Before I open for public comments, I'll share a few remarks. The school board provides p public comment periods for the public to comment on matters related to the business or duties of the school board and school division. Schoolboard policy KD/BDDDH governs these public comment periods. I would encourage citizens to review this policy prior to speaking before the board. Briefly, the school board expects speakers to refrain from any speech or conduct that is a clear violation of the law, such as abusive or threatening language that incites criminal behavior or that creates an actual disruption to the meeting. We ask that speakers direct their comments to the school board and not members of the audience. Violations of schoolboard policy

055KDBDH may result in a warning or termination of speakers by the chair or speakers time by the chair. This sanction is immediately appealable to the whole board at the speaker's option. Each speaker may speak for up to three minutes. A timer is visible to speakers from the podium and speakers should conclude their remarks when the red light comes on. The timer will begin after you state your name and district or area of residence. Okay. I now open the public participation for comments of citizens. All right. Yeah, or the g wrong pile, excuse me. Okay. So, uh the first one is speaker Barbara Haywood. Good evening, Madame Chair, board members, Dr. Shandor. My name is Barbara Haywood and I reside at 118 Pebble Beach Lane in the Brutin District. I'm here this evening to speak on

056the requested name change for McGrder Elementary School. As a previous board member, our then board along with school division attorney and staff reviewed the same topic at the request of NAACP chairman uh then attorney Brian Smalls. The research then indicated that the school was named for the area of McGrder just as other schools in the area the same such as Queens Lake, Waller Mill, Brutin High, all in the Brutin district. As a result, then our board made the decision to leave the school board to leave the school name as McGrder. So much historical research has occurred since then. the brace school, the unearthing of the original First Baptist Church, the reservation, and so much more. True history is being told. Since our board since our board reviewed this then request, I understand that much more

057historical information has been discovered. I don't have the time provide to provide all of this information, but I understand that it is indeed reflects a true connection between General John B. McGrder and the name McGrder Elementary School. In light of this extremely important information, I believe you have no choice but to rename McGrder. And a wonderful alternative would be Brutin Elementary. I challenge you not to be afraid of our history, but to truly embrace and acknowledge the good, the bad, and the ugly. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Haywood. Okay. All right. Next speaker is Danielle Francis. Good evening. Denil Francis, District 2. I want to speak briefly tonight on two topics. I want to circle back to the recent work session where Dr. Shandor had commented on attempts to connect each student to an activity

058or club. I cannot express how valuable that is. Preventative literature overwhelmingly demonstrates the importance of those types of connections in positive outcomes for student development, performance, and mental health. I especially want to note the significance with students that may have greater social struggles. Just last week at the international trauma conference, one of the data points that really struck me was a research study where 92% of the participants with autism and active suicidality listed feeling invalidated at the core of their hopelessness. I think a lot about that as a person, as a community, as a school division. How can we help students feel validated and decrease suicidality? Social support and belonging are huge protective factors and we have a lot of excellent examples of that happening right now with students in our schools. My son's school

059has a lot of really good things happening in that area. So, I really want to say thank you, truly thank you to the teachers and staff that create inclusive spaces and to Dr. Shandor for recognizing the importance of that. Secondly, I also want to speak in support of renaming McGrder Elementary School. There is no context anywhere where the word McGrder does not ultimately come from the Confederate general who was a traitor to the United States. McGritter's team essentially lost. He reacted out of spite, destroyed property, and harmed people. This is who our school is named after. The transformational model of trauma emphasizes that we can never undo horrors of the past. But we can intervene in meaningful ways in the present. So here we are in the present. Knowing what we know now, there is

060no good argument to retain the name McGrder Elementary. The message the name sends is not okay. The type of person it represents is not okay. A public school board member defending the name is not okay. This is not who we are. We know better and we are transforming our community into something better. So, I don't want to ask you if McGreder Elementary will be renamed. I want to know when will McGrder Elementary School be renamed. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Next speaker is uh Mr. Sam Ray. [Music] Good evening. My name is Samuel Ray from District 2. Thank you for including the renaming of McGruda Elementary on the district's agenda. I know this isn't a simple or universally supported issue, and I appreciate your willingness to bring it forward. Let me start with something uncomfortable,

061but honest. If we propose naming a new school today after a Confederate general, it would not make it past this board. But because this name already exists, we've gotten used to it. This kind of comfort isn't a reason to continue honoring someone who fought to uphold slavery. There's been a debate over whether the school was directly or indirectly named after Confederate General John Manid McGrder, but that debate misses the point. His name is on the building and his legacy is inseparable from the Confederacy. Whether it was an intentional tribute or a casual choice decades ago, we now have the opportunity and the obligation to ask what that name means today. I understand that not everyone in our community will agree with renaming the school, and that's okay. Some of our most important decisions, Brown versus

062Board, Loving versus Virginia, were deeply unpopular at the time, but over time they proved morally and legally right. Renaming a school is not erasing history. Choosing not to honor someone is not the same as forgetting them. It is making a statement about what we celebrate in public spaces. John Bankad McGrder fought for a government built on the enslavement of human beings. That is just a historical fact. And we now have to decide what message we send when we continue to accept that name above a schoolhouse door. Yes, there will be a financial cost, but we've made investments before because our students were worth it. This is no different. You will be deciding what this community stands for. In 50 years, no one will remember the budget line, but they will remember whether their leaders have

063the moral clarity to say this name no longer represents who we are. History is watching. More importantly, so are our students. Please ensure that every student is valued. Thank you. Okay. Our next speaker is uh Jordan Lacer. Good evening. My name is Jordan Lacier and I'm part of the Brutin District. When I first found out that my elementary school was named after the man that fought for the Confederate Army, it was gut-wrenching. It made me think about all and everything black folks have been through for centuries while living in this country. It made me think about my two ancestors that have fought for the Union Army and and the Confederate Army and also the family members that continue to fight for this country. I asked myself, why should those of York County and especially black

064residents have to deal with this kind of thing? Where's the pride in going to a school that was named after a man that fought to keep ancestors enslaved? It is extremely ind extremely disingenuous and it almost feels like a smack in the face. I hope that the board members of York County decide to change this name and move forward. It's time for a change. We've changed plenty of things in this world and I feel like we can also make a change in the name of a school. Thank you. Okay, our next speaker is uh Pam Pushet. Good evening. Uh my name is Pam Fusho. I'm District 4. Other area school boards had public discussions before caving into Trump's DEI demands. This board considered it an administrative issue and therefore of no interest to the public.

065What you did was give up our students rights to Trump in exchange for monetary protection. This was not the consent of the govern but the submission by the frightened. This was like the judgment by Solomon ordering the baby to be split in half to satisfy two women. LGBTQ plus minority and female students and staff were denied civil rights so mentally and physically challenged students could retain theirs. The mother of the child demanded her child remain whole, knowing the cost to herself. You chose to cut the child in two. Throughout the United States, there are school boards that have said no and are taking Trump to court. So far, Trump is losing because this is unconstitutional. His demands are no better than a typical grift. Thugs go to a new bakery in town, tell the owner

066they want him to pay a monthly protection fee. The owner is told it would be a shame if his business burned to down or his daughter who worked in the bakery was raped. He gets the idea and caves in out of fear. What other constitutional rights are you willing to give up? Purge our libraries. Mimic Oak Oklahoma and rewrite history and place Trump Bibles in every classroom. Fire staff that is considered woke by Trump standards. Cancel citizens comment so there is no public challenge to policy. allow ICE to remove any student without a warrant or due process. Censor the speech of staff and students. Our pledge of allegiance is a lie. Indivisible with liberty and justice for all is a joke. It is liberally liberty and justice for white heterosexual Christian nationalist American-born males. The

067rest of us are in great peril and risk condemnation or worse at Trump's whim. America has never been perfect, but until Trump came along, we were at least moving forward. Those days are over. Discrimination and equality are now his goal. And we have never been more divided. This board is contributing to its demise. Extortionists do not stop at their first demand. Just as you consider changing the name of McGrder Elementary School. It is imperative you do what is right because it is the right thing to do, not an easy out by doing what is popular or safe. Stand up for liberty and justice for all, not just those in favor. At one time in our history, slavery was acceptable to half of the country. Japanese Americans were held in detention camps with little outrage. Native

068Americans faced genocide by our government and justified as necessary. Most Germans and the world remained silent while Nazis rounded up and murdered those who did not fit the criteria of Aryan perfection. Trump adviser Steven Miller has said they are working on suspending habius corpus so anyone can be abducted anywhere without warrants or due process. Our rights are on the chopping block. If you do not publicly support our rule of law, you do not deserve to sit on this board. Thank you. Our next speaker is Sir Ryan Lassader. Oh. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Do we have a bench? I'm sorry. What? Yeah, we can do that. I tell you what, let's go ahead. We'll have u We're good. Oh, perfect. Okay. All right. Great. Good evening. My name is Orion. I am in the third grade

069at McGrder Elementary School. I am learning from my family that Mcgurder was built in 1920 in Bigler's Mill. It later moved to Pinnaman Road. It was named after It was named after General McGooder who fought to keep slavery. He was a horrible person. Slavery was a bad thing. I was not taught in in school about General Mcder the village of Mcder. I know the people had to leave because of the war. I don't feel it is fair to me and other children to have to ha to have McGooden as the name of our school. If he were living, I don't think he would like me. I would like to change the name. I would like to change the new name to Brutin Elementary. Thank you. Our next speaker is uh David Moss. Good evening. My

070name is David Moss. Uh District 3. Um come to speak to you about uh changes in the county. I'm speaking on behalf of my daughter Natalie Moss. She's not able to make it. She's at York County Youth Commission meeting tonight. Um, I've been a county resident since 1981, 1990, graduate of TAB High School. I've seen a lot of changes in the schools, and I'm here to request uh that the board consider a change with funding the boys and girls lacrosse teams for the high schools. Uh, when the meeting started this morning, there were five individuals that were recognized as far as seniors. The board made an attempt to recognize four of the five for their um sports participation for whichever sport they were playing at the high school level. The way it currently is for

071the boys and girls lacrosse team that isn't recognized because it's a club. It isn't recognized under the VHSL uh league. So myself, a lot of the other parents and the girls that are here just are requesting that the consideration be given to fund the the sport and make it part of the VHSL league. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Nathan Kirby. Good evening, school board members and administrators. My name is Nathan Kirby. I am the program manager for the York Falcons women lacrosse team. I'm here tonight to recognize our team for the for the winning of the Hampton Roads Lacrosse League Women's Championship this past Saturday. We defeated TAB in a hard-fought game by a score of 13 to9. This is the second consecutive year winning this title. Many, excuse me, many of

072the girls from both teams, many of the girls from both teams who played in the championship game are here tonight. I would like to take a moment and have them stand and be recognized for their accomplishment. The Hampton Roads Lacrosse League is made up of men's and women's high school lacrosse clubs from Norfolk, Chesapeake, Newport News, York County, and Williamsburg. The majority of the 757 area except for Virginia Beach. These girls practiced every day for four months like every VHSL sport. However, unlike VHSL sports, after winning the local club league championship, their season is over. They will receive no official recognition from the school, and there will be no chance to move on to regional, or state championship opportunities. Our standout players receive no individual accolades for all district, regional, or states. Their pictures or

073their stats will never be placed on the wall of their high school. and there will be no acknowledgement that they have won back-to-back championships. You have heard a lot from the lacrosse community in York County and Williamsburg about coming together to make lacrosse VHS VHSL sanctioned varsity sport for our schools in the Bay River District and we understand that you are actively working on it. We are here tonight to ask that you please continue to do everything in your power to make this a reality for our schools here in the county. Lacrosse has been a club sport in York County since 2007. It's 18 years. Our athletes continue to miss out on opportunities for scholarships and NCAA roster spots the longer we stay at the club level. Thank you for your time and continued support.

074Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay, our next speaker is I'm sorry, my glasses on. Yavon Johnson. Good afternoon. Thank you for including renaming McGrder on the agenda. In the schoolboard report, several conclusions were made with a disclaimer, admitting that their investigation was limited. Other than James Weldon Johnson and Frederick Douglas, schools did not have full names. Therefore, they concluded that McGrder was not directly named for the general. However, the report also indicated that at least one sort some one source stated that John B. McGrder named the McGrder Fort himself and York County operated a school named McGrder that was taken over by Camp Perry. In 1951, McGrder School opened on the current site and is still in operation. It was an all-white school. Additionally, their report cited the August 29th, 1954 Daily Press article,

075which displays the McGruda School expanding to add six additional rooms to accommodate 317 students. And it also stated that it was named for a Confederate general. Finally, they stated there were heightened racial racial tensions going on in the county during that time during the civil rights movement. In fact, a massive resistance policy was adopted in 1956 by the Virginia state government to block desegregation of public schools mandated by the US Supreme Court after the 1954 ruling of the Brown versus Board of Education. When the mandate came to integrate the schools, the white parents did not want their children to attend a school named after Frederick Douglas. So, Frederick Douglas was changed very briefly um to McGrder Annex. However, the name McGrder remained and black students who went there possibly more assuredly were not aware of

076who McGruda was because that was not taught. But I can assure you it is absolutely clear that it was not named for the displaced community because it would have been renamed because they did not want them to go to a school named after black. So they would not have wanted them to go to a school named in honor of a community in honor of a displaced black community. Regarding the statement that the names of TAB in York would have to be changed, we are not looking to rename any other schools in York County. We propose Brutin to keep the name the same naming convention as York and TAB, but it does not have to be that. We're looking to rename the school in response to disegregation. John Bunkhead Bankhead McGrder ordered the burning of Hampton

077and targeting fugitive slaves. Keeping the school named in honor of a Confederate leader who defended the in institution of slavery is a statement that you do not value nor do you do not respect the dignity of black students, faculty, and staff. We strongly urge you to rename McGrder Elementary. Thank you. All right, our next speaker is uh Mary Lasser. Good evening. I am Mary Lassid and I live in the Brutin District. McGruda School, a segregated school for white children, was named for JB McGruda. It was built in Bigler's Mill, a separate and nearby town from the village of McGruda. There was no McGruda zone during that time. It's not reasonable that they would have named the school after predominantly black community. In a 1954 Daily Press article, it is clearly stated that the school was

078named for General John Bankhead McGrder. There was no reason to hide that. During that time, during that time of uh the Jim Crow era and during a time of massive integration, massive resistance to integration, there was only one McGrder school contrary to uh to multiple schools as stated in a report prepare prepared by Drs. Carolyn Butler. McGruda school had a unique situation of being displaced by the US Navy and moved to Chetum Annex. The history is in a daily press article titled schoolberries time capsule published in 1990. The start date is 1920 of that particular school. There was no school pri by the name of McGruda prior to that. The current school on Pentaman Road was already named McGruda three years before Frederick Douglas and James Weldon Johnson were named. There was a cultural difference

079in the way schools were named during the gym during Jim Crow. White southerners often only use last names and sometimes double up on the Confederate names like Lee Jackson, Ashby Lee, Doure Middle School. JB McGruda did not JB McGruda did not name the village after himself. He died in 1871. The village was named in 1896 when Thomas Newman named the post office in order in honor of the general. It is bizarre rationalization. It really is unreal that you can expect a sensible person to believe McGruda school had to have a first name and a last name because Frederick Douglas and James Weldon Johnson were named that way 30 years later. Most likely Charles E. Brown who is president of the NAACP and was at one time principal of the York County Training School had input

080along with the black community on the naming of those two [Music] schools. Um the federal school Fort McGruda of 1868 mentioned in the report was actually established by the Freriedman's Bureau for Colored Children. It was not in the McGruda area but was near Queens Creek Road. It was 52 years before the segregated McGruda School was built. I recommend the new name to be Brutin Elementary. Thank you. All right. Our next speaker is Dennit Ta. Hi, thank you for your time tonight. My name is Denise Tall and I live in Grafton. I would like to speak to you about school safety. I am a mother of two young children and I have a son who goes to Grafton Bethl Elementary School and as you likely know there was a lockdown there on Friday of last week.

081The first thing I wanted to speak about is notification to parents. We were given a lot of communication from the school, but it lacked detail. I don't believe it's very helpful for parents to receive a notification that the school is on lockdown and that there has been a threatening phone call. Without information, parents can't make informed decisions about how to get to the school to pick up their children, if they can pick up their children, what the threat really is, what's going on. It makes parents feel incredibly helpless and vulnerable. And even when there's something like a bank robbery, we're informed when the suspect is taken into custody. And as parents, we were told that the lockdown was downgraded to an intermediate lockdown, but we weren't told why. We we didn't have any ability to

082assess the threat ourselves and make decisions as parents. So, I'd like to propose a a policy or procedure or something for for you all to take into consideration that would encourage whoever's in charge of the announcements, whether it be the principal or someone else at the county, to give parents more information and really empower them by giving them the information that makes them feel informed as to what's going on with their children when they're not allowed to come to a school and pick them up. It it it makes parents, like I said, feel very very vulnerable. The second thing I wanted to talk about is just general school safety. I was at Graf & Bethl for over three hours on Friday sitting outside on the grass waiting to pick up my son. And so I

083was able to observe a lot of what was going on. I saw that even during the the lockdown when the the strongest lockdown before it was downgraded, there was a police presence, but the exits and entrances to the school weren't blocked off. Parents were driving up, delivery truck drivers were driving right on up to the front of the school and walking up to the front of the building. There there wasn't a police presence surrounding the school, surrounding the the windows of the school, for example. Anyone could just walk right up to the school without issue. when it was downgraded to an intermediate lockdown, people were still coming in and out, administrators, parents who volunteered, and according to the policy, no one should have gone in and out. I think that we should have something like

084a committee to discuss security. Maybe we need security consultants. Maybe we need metal detectors. We're a safe community and we want to make sure we're prepared for the worst even though we hope the worst never happens. And perhaps we need to consider allocating parts of our budget to security and be more like the Newport News schools with metal detectors and things like that. Thank you. All right. All right. Okay. I now close the public participation for comments of citizens. We will now open up the public hearing on proposed schoolboard salaries for FY2526. All right. Our speaker uh first speaker is Pam Push him who showed district 4. Uh I realize your um raise is minuscule. Some of you, if not all of you, work hard uh in your positions. However, when we are in the

085whole a million dollars, whether it you get a $5 raise or a $5 million raise, neither should be done. Um we're just in a bad situation right now. And honestly, the extra money you get, I don't think it'll make an ounce of difference in your lives. So hopefully you will not accept the raise. Thank you. Thank you. Great. I now close the public hearing on proposed schoolboard salaries for FY2526. We are going to move into financial matters and I will ask Mr. Pyovich to discuss financial matters. Madame chair, we have a plan to certify for payment for April 2025. Uh we have significant expenditures for April. uh instructional related expenditures total approximately 471,786 and includes payments to Alli Healthcare, Arrow Research Services, Beautiful Mind Speech, CMG Acquisition, Emily Hannes, Globe Forge, Hatchet Vision Services, H

086Hotton Publishing, Mariners Museum, Maximum Healthc Care Services, OD Research Foundation, Pearson's Plan B Academy, Purple Communications, SHI Varsity, the Falcon uh Fasant uh Center, for CSA student tuitions. uh CDW that is for the Chrome uh Chromebooks grades five and N uh and nine divisionwide Istage replacement and eight prominent boards uh Prometheian boards cost communications middle clan installers she communications and VA business systems payments for operations and maintenance total 286,50 and includes payments to the minion energy uh grinder Hampton Road sanitation district Mickey environmental reliance acquisition Republic Services, Riverside Paper, York County Treasurer, and Virginia Natural Gas. Payments for school nutrition services totaling [Music] 788,145 and includes payments to Alto Hartley, Global Payments, Gold Creek Foods, Maidight, Special, Sedesco, the Matthew Group. Transportation related expenses include a payment to Kingmore supply which is for 377 passenger

087buses and miscellaneous supplies. Payments related to the capital projects totaling 214,750 and include payments to mobile lease which is rental for module classrooms and varsity brands which is for the York High baseball scoreboard and banners for the light post. uh significant uh consideration approval of financial report for April 25. We have significant changes relating to the operating budget for April revenues. State revenue is approximately 8.8 million higher in April FI25 when compared to April FI24. The change is due to increase in students enrollment at risk funding and the state's portion of 5.5 compensate compensation increase for FI25. Federal revenue is approximately 2.4 million less in FI25 due to the expiration of one-time ESR stimulus grants in FI25. For expenditures, expenditures for instructional instruction are approximately 5.5 million higher in April 25 when compared to April

08824 due the 5 and a half% increase salaries, increase in employer health premiums and additional positions added for FI25. Expenditures for transportations are approximately 1.2 million higher and expenditures for operations are about 1.5 million higher in 25 due increase in salaries and increase in employer health premiums. Expenditures for technology have increased about 1.2 million due to the increase in salaries and benefits and transfer out of $700,000 to the technology reserve fund. We have significant changes relating to the school nutrition budget and uh for the revenues and expenditures. Total schools nutrition revenue is down 170,000 in April FY25 when compared to April 24. The expenditures are 55,000 higher due to the number of inclement weather days in FI25 resulting in fewer meals being served. We have resolution uh 25-23 for consideration uh and approval. Uh it

089requires the board's approval authorizing procurements of more than $100,000 and change orders greater than $50,000. There are three 23 items uh on resolution all for fiscal year 26 and totaling 10,673,000 the details of which can be viewed on a board docs. Madam chair, I now move to approve financial matters as listed. I'll second. Is there any discussion? Okay, Miss Howard. A motion was made by Mr. Pyovich and seconded by Mr. Richardson to approve financial matters as listed. Mr. Richardson, yes. Mr. Schaefer, yes. Mrs. Fairman, yes. Mr. Pyovich, yes. And Mrs. Goodwin, yes. The motion passed 5 to zero. All right. We'll next move on to the consent calendar of approval of personnel actions, approval of minutes from a regular meeting on April 28th, 2025, a special meeting on May 7th, 2025, and a special meeting

090on May 9th, 2025. Approval of donations in the amount of $549. Approval of resolution 25-29 to continue the salaries of members of the county school board of York County. No raise. Approval of resolution 25-26 authorizing the schoolboard chair, division superintendent, and the high school principles to apply for membership with the Virginia High School League for school year 2025 2026. Approval of the 25-26 student handbook and co, excuse me, conduct code. Approval of program of studies changes. Approval of consent calendar as listed. I'd like to have a motion and a second to approve the consent calendar as listed. Madam chair, I would like to make a motion to approve the constant calendar uh calendar as listed. I'll second. Are there any questions? A motion was made by Mr. Pyich and seconded by Mr. Richardson to approve

091the consent calendar listed. Mr. Schaefer, yes. Mrs. Fairman, yes. Mr. Richardson, yes. Mr. Pyovich, yes. Mrs. Goodwin, yes. The motion passed five to zero. All right. So, next is a a brief discussion um on having a local mini retreat. Uh last week I sent an email and I thank the four uh three board members who responded to me uh about their schedules uh so that we could put this on the calendar. we wanted to do something uh towards the latter part of June if it worked with everybody's schedule um because we don't get an opportunity as a board to really come together and and and talk about things that are germanine to the board and to uh you know scheduling and and so forth and so on. Uh so board members um I I got

092the feedback and in talking with um a couple of the critical people that would need to be there uh it looked and appeared like uh June 25th was a good date for everybody when we ruled out dates that uh people weren't going to be working or had other uh commitments. And so I'm just throwing that out there as a proposal. You're looking at the whole day or just the morning, afternoon. You said many retreats, so I just Yeah. So, um that we we were thinking of a time from like 8 to noon. Okay. That way it would we wouldn't have the whole day, but it would be half day. It would be local as you know. Uh people can attend if they want. You can't speak, but you can attend. Um yeah. So, when I

093looked at everybody's dates that I was given, that's the date that seemed to work across the board for everybody. And I know Mr. Povich that you potentially could be going down, but right now it looked good. It right now it looks good. Okay. Um, so yeah, I'd like to just propose the date of the 25th. Just have a question. Where um are you planning to have this? At the school board office or at the sheriff's office? First, we have to vote on being able to have it before we put out there. Okay. Um, it'll be local. So, do you need a motion right now for uh Yes. So, I would like to make motion to have the mini border retreat on June 25th. Location pending. Uh second. Okay. We vote that on actions. We're going

094to vote that in actions. Yeah. We just want I just wanted to get a consensus on a date for so we could put it when we go to action. Makes sense. But thank you. We got consensus. Okay. All right. All right. Next, we have a action item. Consideration of a motion to authorize the purchase of York County DARE program supplies at a total cost to the school division not to exceed 4,000. And if the cost exceeds 4,000, the DARE program will reimburse the school division any amount above 4,000. Can I please have a motion and a second? Yes. I would like to make a motion to authorize the purchase of York County DER program supplies at the total cost of to the school division not to exceed $4,000 and if the cost exceed $4,000 the

095DER program will reimburse the school division any amount about $4,000. I'll second discussion. A motion was made by Mr. Povich and seconded by Mr. Richardson to authorize the purchase of York County DARE program supplies at a total cost to the school division not to exceed $4,000. And if the cost exceeds $4,000, the DARE program will reimburse the school division any amount above $4,000. Mr. Richardson, yes. Mr. Schaefer, yes. Mr. Pyovich, yes. Mrs. Fairman, yes. And Mrs. Goodwin, yes. The motion passed five to zero. Okay. All right. Next, I have a consideration of approval of resolution 25-31, a resolution amending the FY2025 schoolboard operating budget. Can I please have a motion and a second? I'd like to make a motion that we approve resolution 25-31, resolution amending the fiscal year 2025 school board operating budget. Second

096discussion. All right, Miss Howard. A motion was made by Mr. Schaefer and seconded by Mr. Pyovich to approve resolution 2531, a resolution amending the fiscal year 2025 school board operating budget. Mr. Pyovich, yes. And Mr. Schaefer, yes. Mr. Richardson, yes. Mrs. Fairman, yes. And Mrs. Goodwin, yes. Motion passed five to zero. Next, we have consideration of approval of resolution 25-32, a resolution amending the FY26 school board operating budget. Can I please have a motion and a second? Madam Chair, I move the approval of resolution 25-32 amending the FY26 schoolboard operating budget. I'll second discussion. Yes, I do have um some comments on this. I do not approve um the the budget for the coming year. I did not approve of the tax increase done to the citizens of York County to cover this. I did

097not like the implied threat that teachers salaries would have to be cut if we did not get uh the tax increase. Teachers and classroom needs should be the last thing looked at. We have many other areas that we can take a look at. Um, part of the ones um that I've been talking about since the beginning are some of the digital platforms, the apps um with the the gaming u they're educational, but they still are using the addictive um format in order to um push u push those games in the classroom as well as I really think we need to cut back on the Chromebook use due to more and more studies are coming out that the screen time is not only detrimental to students but it is damaging the children's health especially their mental

098health there more and more studies are coming out. We need to take a look at that and we have a large amount that is budgeted uh for Chromebooks over the years um and especially next year. In addition, we should have funded the lacrosse teams for next year. that should have been fully funded. It this has been 18 long years too long in the making. It keeps getting pushed further and further and further down. And so I do not support this budget. I do not support forcing taxpayers to consistently pay more. That's irresponsible. Throwing money at schools does not guarantee excellence. And it keeps going up and up by millions every year. And yes, some of you know we have some wonderful results, but constantly hanging that damocles sword over taxpayers heads saying if you don't

099give us more money, we can't guarantee you the good schools. I don't buy that argument and so I am against this budget for next year. Thank you. All right. Thank you. I have some more discussion because I disagree with Miss Fairman. Um we don't set the budget. That's the board of supervisors. you're on the wrong board, Miss Fairman, uh, for that. Um, as far as the lacrosse, that's a lot of money. Um, we didn't have the money to initially do that at the at the last minute in this budget when we were looking at some budget shortfalls. Um, yeah, we need to look at at uh, may possibly funding the lacrosse teams, but to do this for every school in the county, it can't just be for TAB, can't just be for York, and it

100can't just be for the males, it can't be just for the females. It has to be for all the teams. And we have to consider the other schools, Grafton and Brutin as well. Uh the transportation cost and the cost of the the um uh the coaches as well. Um I've I've dealt with budgets for years. I know how budgets work and the Chromebooks are something that are needed. Um we we save space in the schools for them taking the so test with having Chromebooks. Um, I disagree that they're using the Chromebooks too much at in the in the classroom. I think our our teachers are mindful and they're monitoring that because we I hear from the superintendent that we push that. When I talk to teachers, they're not pushing that. Um, the the idea that

101they spend too much screen time may be because they're doing it not just in school, they're doing it outside of school. We can't control that. Um, and that's some discussions that this board has had in the past about that. So, I I just disagree on that. But anyway, that's just my opinion. I appreciate that and I would just echo that. Um, you know, I think I could say from visiting multiple schools in this division over the last what 15 months that I've been on this board, um, I have never walked into a classroom where I've seen children just working on their Chromebooks. In fact, it's it's kind of been the opposite. I see more engagement. I see more uh working um without Chromebooks. I know that they're used. Um but and it's funny because I

102even talked to some um students and I've asked them, you know, what percentage do you think that you're on your Chromebooks during the day? And um they said maybe 40%. Um so this is the feedback I'm getting from them. So I they're going to they're part of what we have today because technology is here and it's not like we can turn the clock back to you know the 1950s60s or wherever before we had technology. Um it has its benefits and yes it does have problems but the school is I think pretty diligent about watching that balance at least from what I've observed personally and I've heard from the students. Um, and then a, as Mr. Richardson said, there's a portion of that that falls on families. We cannot control how much screen time kids get

103when they go home. That's incumbent on parents to implement those regulations. Um, so, uh, anyway, that's just my two cents on that. Well, I think I'd like to throw in a little bit, too. Uh, I believe our increase was only like 2.21% um, from year to year. And when you're talking about spending money, we haven't had a tax increase in uh York County in nine years. And again, that's not us. The board of supervisors decided that. And it wasn't just for the schools. It was uh for public safety. It was for a lot of stuff. Uh not to mention the fact that we are still in the bottom third of the state in per pupil spending. Okay? and yet we have the best results. Uh I would say that we just keep doing what we're

104doing. And I I would like to also like I've been very involved with the budget uh since the day I got on board. And I just want to recognize Mr. Bowman and his team working hard with Dr. Shander uh saving some money to make this happen. I recognize Miss Fairman's uh sentiment as far as like nobody wants to pay more taxes. I don't want to pay more taxes. Nobody does. Uh unfortunately, the environment and uh economy that we're in, we have rising uh cost increase daily. Like I know for my business that we do see it every day and that's school diff it's not different. It's not exceptional. Uh we did see some savings proposed from the Mr. Bowman and Dr. Shander uh our last meeting. So I I appreciate you guys finding those things

105and making our budget balanced because that was very big concern of mine. Uh I know county supervisors they did their portion and even citizen they done their portion and I think we as a schools done our job well uh to balance it and bring valuable valuable programs to our students, support to our teachers, the support to our staff. Uh I I think we're going to have a good strong year ahead. Uh as far as the lacrosse team, I I see the need. I see the desire. I see our students really needing that. Um I think that's part of our discussion for the future that we going to have to bring in part of our minute mini retreat. We I think we need to discuss some of those options. How do we do those? Because with

106those children, they represent us. You know, that's their future and they there is opportunities that we possibly actually they are missing on those things. and I want to see how can we as a school division help make those dreams come true. So, that's a good point and like I like we know um there's a process there's an eightstep process to do that and um you know we definitely want to to have that discussion. Absolutely. I don't even know what that looks like. So, I need to come up to speed and be educated as well on what it looks like so that we can see if we can move that in that direction. Um this just wasn't the year to do that that financially. I mean, we didn't even do we canceled a retreat earlier for

107a couple thousand dollars because the budget. So, I mean, we can't spend thousands and thousands when we aren't going to spend two to go on a a a retreat. So, with that said, um let's go ahead and vote. A motion was made by Mr. Richardson and seconded by Mr. Schaefer to approve resolution 2532, a resolution amending the fiscical year 26 schoolboard operating budget. Mr. Schaefer, yes. Mrs. Fairman, no. Mr. Richardson, yes. Mr. Pyovich, yes. And Mrs. Goodwin, yes. The motion passed 4 to one. Now we go to the motion for approval. The next is consideration of approval of a local mini retreat on June 25th, 2025 from 8 to 12 noon. Okay. I would like to make a motion for approval of local mini retreat for the school board on June 25th from 8 till

108noon. And I second discussion discussed. All right, Miss Howard. A motion was made by Mr. Pyitch and seconded by Mr. Schaefer to approve the local mini retreat on June 25th, 2025 from 8 to noon. Mr. Pyovich, yes. Mr. Schaefer, yes. Mr. Richardson, yes. Mrs. Fairman, yes. Mrs. Goodwin, yes. Motion passed five to zero. All right. We do not have any policy discussion. We do not have a policy first reading. We do not have a policy second reading. And now we move on to the report of the superintendent, Dr. Shandeler. Thank you, Miss Goodwin. Just one announcement this evening. Uh the Virginia School Board Association held a student art show on April 22nd, 2025 as part of the Tidewater Region Spring Forum. Uh the show featured outstanding artwork from elementary, middle, and high high school students

109representing each school in the in the region. Proud to share that two of our talented students earned third place in their respective categories. Hillary Optike from TAB Middle School and Li Lillian McDermott from Grafton High School. So congratul congratulations to both of those students on this remarkable achievement. This concludes superintendent report. All right. Um is there anyone who wishes to speak now that did not get a chance to speak uh before signing up before the meeting? Okay. Thank you everyone for your input and for being here this evening. Our next meeting will be a work session immediately followed by a special meeting here at your call on June 2nd at 4:30 p.m. We do have a close session this evening. Can I please have a board member take a make a motion to take us

110into close session? I'll move that York County School Board meet in close session pursuant to Virginia Code 2.2-3711A1 of Virginia Freedom of Information Act for consideration and discussion regarding specific candidates for appointment to the following advisory committees. uh gifted education and special education advisory committees as the matters addressed in close session are confidential. No minutes or recordings are permitted. Second. Thanks, Sard. A motion was made by Mr. Schaefer and seconded by Mr. Pyovich to approve the York County School Board to meet in close session as stated. Mr. Richardson, yes. Mr. Schaefer, yes. Mrs. Fairman, yes. Mr. Pyovich, yes. And Mrs. Goodwin, yes. Motion pass. 5 to zero. You're in close session.